Last Shot

“Get paid to have the best seats at a basketball game? Get to talk to the players and interview Coach Fran Dunphy? Have someone bring statistics to your seat at every time-out? Eat for free in the pressroom before the game?”

Stevie demonstrates his idyllic view of college basketball and sports. At the Penn-Columbia game in Philadelphia, he has a great, carefree time. The breezy experience contrasts with the stressful situations he’ll encounter at the Final Four and adds to the juxtaposition.

“I really don’t need this. I know my reservation was for a suite. I don’t want one of those tiny little rooms you give to people. I didn’t come here to spend five days sleeping in a closet.”

Kornheiser is one of Stevie’s media heroes, but Stevie’s first glimpse of him in person is of him yelling at a hotel employee. Kornheiser’s abrasive tone foreshadows the questionable behavior of the media and shows that people on TV can act differently in reality than they do before the cameras.

“She had one of those Southern accents that stretched words out. ‘Palestra,’ in her accent, became Paa-lae-sta-ra. Four syllables. At least.”

Feinstein shows how Susan Carol speaks through the literary device of diction. He carefully explains how her Southern accent makes Palestra sound because her voice is a crucial trait that she uses to disarm people.